Staff contracts up in air

 

While results from the part-time faculty’s contract ratification vote will be made public on Tuesday, negotiations for MHCC classified employees and full-time faculty members are lagging.

“I don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere,” said Sara Williams, full-time faculty association president, on Wednesday.

She said the college administration has requested mediation, which means a third party would come in to assist the contract talks, scheduled for Oct. 29.

“I have some hopes for mediation… that maybe with a change in the dynamic, (the) process will move more effectively,” she said.

The full-time faculty negotiations team was asked to bargain four times since the spring, but little was accomplished, Williams said.

“The college pushed really hard to get us to bargain over the summer,” she said. “Almost nothing happened… that was a little rough.”

Williams said four articles (within the lengthy contract document) have been resolved so far, with about 15 remaining. That leaves much still to resolve.

“In comparison to the list of things of things that need to be done, if you were doing a big, big (home) remodel job, you’ve picked cabinets,” she said.

In fact, the four settled contract articles were discussed and settled early on, further underscoring the slow progress since, Williams said.

The drawn-out conversation continues for nonteaching classified workers, as well.

Classified employees association President Cathy Nichols said, “We have made great progress, but we have seem to hit a road block on a couple of (contract) articles.”

A key stumbling block is provisions regarding job security, Nichols said. She said most employees she represents have been at Mt. Hood an average 15-20 years.

“I need to bring my members back something that makes them feel they are valued. That’s important to me,” she said. “I need to be able to offer these people job security.”

The classified group took a negotiating break for the start of the fall term, but held a session on Thursday.

Even that brought stress for classified employees, who do important work with students, Nichols said.

“It’s kind of pushing it to pull people away from their desk during the second week” of classes, she said.

From about 26 articles on the table when the contract talks began, 10 articles remain, Nichols said.

She couldn’t say whether a part-time faculty contract agreement, pending the ratification vote, would help speed the process.

“Who knows what’s going to happen?” said Nichols. “I’m happy that part-time has something that works for them.”